Teacher Workshop

Despite the threat of rain, 8 educators took to the trails to try out activities geared for K-12 students. A combination workshop, highlighting Project Wild and Project Learning Tree curriculum guides, covered a variety of topics all geared to foster appreciation and model responsible actions in a fun learning environment.

From ants to vultures, the Schoolyard Safari (PLT) activity introduced new fun facts and talked about different teaching techniques. While investigating along the Wetland Walk, materials were collected on pant legs and jacket sleeves for the next activity, 'Seed Need' (WILD), that shows how plants get around without feet of their own.
Most of the educators in this workshop are current or new facilitators with the Camp Bayou Nature Center programs for youth groups, which include schools, summer camps, scout troops and homeschool groups.

Participants: Jeri, George, Ruth, Polly, Andrea, Herb, Carol and Anne.

FULL MOON AND MARS

Friday night's full Moon is the biggest and brightest full Moon of the year. It's a "perigee Moon," as much as 14% wider and 30% brighter than other full Moons you'll see later in 2010. But that's not all. Mars is having a close encounter with Earth, and on Friday night, Jan. 29th, it will join the Moon for an all-night-long conjunction. Don't miss it! Sky maps and images may be found at http://spaceweather.com.

FLYBY ALERT: NASA is preparing to launch space shuttle Endeavour on Feb. 7th. It's the last night launch of the shuttle program and it kicks off a 13-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS). You can follow the ISS and Endeavour as they streak across the night sky using our new Satellite Flybys app for the iPhone or iPod Touch. Details at http://simpleflybys.com.

Email alert from Space Weather News for Jan. 28, 2010
http://spaceweather.com

MLK Service Day at Camp Bayou

UPDATE:
Yesterday (1/30/10), someone took the 55 gallon trash can, which still hadn't been picked up by the County Parks trash truck, and pushed/rolled it into the woods at the side of the road. So of course all that appropriately placed trash needs to be picked up now. Sigh....

Today we had a cleanup scheduled.
I often schedule events so that it will cover more than one goal. This one:
1- Fulfilled a desire to have a service event for MLK Service Day. Last year was our first MLK event. A few people showed up to help clean up the river using their own canoes and kayaks, or in a couple cases, doing a land based cleanup because they did not have their own vessels. Less than a dozen people picked up a whole lot of trash.
2- We are an Adopt-a-Road site that requires us to do at least 4 cleanups a year. Our main cleanups, in April and September, are coordinated by Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful. This cleanup in January seems like a good time between major events. We announce this opportunity through various volunteer organizations like Idealist.org, volunteermatch.org and others plus the media and our newsletter.
3- With an interest in citizen science, and a bit of a stretch in the definition, any cleanup is a data point for the Trash Tracker program recently implemented in Hillsborough through the folks who bring you Adopt-a-pond.

So there I was at 9:30am, just in case folks didn't read the part in the announcements that RSVPs are required (no one had contacted me to say they'd be there). I do not need an entourage to go to work so I started at the entry to Camp Bayou and started to pick up trash along the quarter mile stretch to the river.
A pattern became immediately apparent. I played a little game of CSI- imagining who the people were who left this evidence behind.

Most obvious is that they are mostly Bud Light drinkers. Sure there was plenty of Corona, even some Miller and Busch, with a sprinkling of hard liquor in sizes from half pint to half gallon. Out of the 4 bags of trash picked up, 80% were beer containers. Note that bottles were the preference, very few cans, and mostly in the 12oz size, although a couple quart sizes were found. (Afterthought- cans were probably just as plentiful. They just get picked up by folks who take them to the metal recycling guys to get their few pennies a piece. Hey, it works- can we put a refund on glass bottles too? That would help a little...)

The pattern was pretty consistent until the end of the road where, inevitably, the munchies struck and there was a sprinkling of fast food wrappers- McDs, Wendy's and Taco Bell.

At the water's edge, there was a string attached to a fish head laying in the water. No doubt someone was hoping to entice a blue claw crab, although we are a bit far upriver for that at this time of year. Knowing the reputation of this particular, fairly isolated area, that isn't the only type of crabs that have been caught at this location. The occasional condom attests to that.

I haven't even mentioned the fact that this is a Hillsborough County preserve where alcohol is never supposed to be allowed. Since local law enforcement just doesn't have the resources to bother with something as trivial as the alcohol ordinance (forget about littering), I don't expect things to change any time soon. I'd like to be able to say it should be easy to catch someone in the act because the gates are closed at night, but the contorted shape of the metal gate shows that people have gotten in and out after the posted hours of operation by ramming the gate on more than one occasion.

On the other hand, we've been picking up trash at the end of this road for the last 10 years. It really isn't any worse than in the past. A silver lining, of sorts, can be seen in the fact that although 4 bags of trash were picked up from the road side, an equal amount of trash was propertly disposed of in the 55 gal trash can at the end of the road (also piled high with Bud Light).

This blog post has been an exercise in venting some frustration but in the end, Camp Bayou is a wonderful place and I will not be swayed in my dedication just because some folks just don't appreciate the amazing place where they've chosen to stop.

On the trail...

A beautiful sunny day, after over a week of unseasonable cold, it was a pleasure to take to the trails on a relatively warm day.

It's that time of year for our visits from those maligned critters, the vultures. We get both the Turkey vulture and the Black vulture around here year-round, but they become a more common sight, often appearing in surprising numbers. This photo of a Black vulture soaring above the pines shows the identifying white wing tips quite well. In the other photo, huddled on the opposite bank is a 'venue' of vultures. Venue is the name for a group of vultures- also sometimes called a committee or a wake. Those circling overhead would be a 'kettle'. If they are circling, it is unlikely that they are waiting for some unfortunate animal to die, despite those old movies and cartoons. They are probably just enjoying the ease of flight on a column of warm air.

If you should see any vultures with tags on their wings, researchers would like to know about it.

Free mini-workshop in Pinellas- Scatology

Scatology: The Study of Scat (Animal Poop)

A free mini-workshop and educational display by George L. Heinrich (Heinrich Ecological Services)

Have you ever seen scat while hiking on a trail and wondered which species left it behind? Perhaps it was from a gopher tortoise, coyote or alligator. This family-oriented, mini-workshop and educational display will allow participants to see a variety of preserved specimens and learn about the value of scat to wildlife biologists and naturalists. Workshop participants will also dissect gopher tortoise scat to learn what these reptiles have been eating.

Weedon Island Preserve (St. Petersburg. FL)

Workshop: 16 January 2010 (2:00-3:30 pm)

Educational display on exhibit: 17 December 2009-16 January 2010

Call the preserve at (727) 453-6500 to sign up


Brooker Creek Preserve (Tarpon Springs, FL)

Workshop: 13 February 2010 (2:00-3:30 pm)

Educational display on exhibit: 20 January-13 February 2010

Call the preserve at (727) 453-6800 to sign up

On the trail...

Before the freezes hit, I took this picture of a Linx Spider guarding her egg sac (which is wrapped in the seed heads of this upland plant). She was a courageous sight, trying to intimidate an intruder about a thousand times her size. I took the pix and left her alone with her charges. A week later, and many degrees colder (minimum temps at Camp Bayou reached 27 F), she is gone but the carefully wrapped egg sac is still there. The next freeze threatens to be even colder (snow is a possibility here in Central Florida- wonder of wonders) so I took the stem along with its passengers (which I hope are still alive) into the Nature Center to see if they still have a chance at surviving this winter. Time will tell. I will post if and when they hatch and hopefully their subsequent release into the wilds of Camp Bayou. Stay tuned...

Jupiter tonight!

The Galilean Revolution, 400 years later | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine
From Bad Astronomer:
"Tonight, just after sunset, Jupiter will be a glowing white beacon in the southwest just after sunset. I have a Galileoscope, an inexpensive telescope created as part of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, an effort to get as many people on Earth to look up as possible. I think perhaps it would be fitting if I brave the subzero temperature outside, maybe for just a few minutes, and take a look at the mighty planet. Tonight’s display is better than Galileo himself had it: all four moons will be perfectly arrayed, two on each side of Jupiter’s face."
It may not be sub-zero (he lives way up north) in Florida but despite our unusual cold snap, I hope to look up and make the same connections as well tonight!